License Compliance, Code Coverage, and Baseline Policies

License compliance is not just a legal necessity but a critical component of software security and DevSecOps. It ensures that software is built on trust, transparency, and ethical practices, which are fundamental for the safe and efficient delivery of software in today’s digital age.

License Compliance in software security entails adhering to the terms and conditions stipulated in the licensing agreements of software products and components. These licenses can range from open source licenses, such as the GNU General Public License (GPL) or the MIT license, to proprietary licenses issued by software vendors.

License compliance, especially in the domains of software security and DevSecOps, is of paramount importance for various reasons:

• Legal implications: Non-compliance with software licenses can lead to legal repercussions. For businesses, this can result in lawsuits, financial penalties, and reputational...

DevSecOps and its relevance to license compliance

DevSecOps, a fusion of development (Dev), security (Sec), and operations (Ops), is an organizational philosophy that integrates security practices within the DevOps process. DevSecOps aims to create a “security as code” culture with ongoing, flexible collaboration between release engineers and security teams.

Let’s look at DevSecOps’ relevance to license compliance:

• Early identification of compliance issues: Integrating license compliance within DevSecOps ensures that compliance issues are identified and addressed early in the development life cycle, reducing the time and cost of rectification
• Automated compliance checks: DevSecOps encourages automation, and automated compliance checks can be integrated within the CI/CD pipeline to ensure continuous adherence to licensing requirements
• Consistent compliance management: With DevSecOps, compliance becomes a part of the routine process rather...

The distinction between traditional licenses and security implications

The distinction between traditional software licenses and the implications they may have on security can be quite nuanced. When we talk about traditional licenses, we usually refer to proprietary or closed source licenses as opposed to open source licenses.

Each type of licensing comes with a set of benefits and challenges concerning software security. The choice between traditional proprietary licenses and open source licenses would largely depend on an organization’s security priorities, resource availability, and long-term strategic goals.

In this section, we’ll provide a breakdown of the distinctions and their security implications.

Source code access

• Traditional (proprietary) licenses. Typically, proprietary licenses do not provide access to the source code. Without source code access, identifying vulnerabilities or security flaws is challenging. Users must rely on the vendor...

Different types of software licenses

Software licenses are legal agreements that dictate how software can be used, modified, and distributed. They fall into several categories, including proprietary, open source, and freeware licenses. Proprietary licenses are characterized by strict control over the software’s use and distribution, often requiring payment, and typically don’t provide access to the source code. On the other hand, open source licenses can be more permissive, allowing access to the source code, modification, and redistribution, often free of charge. They can further be categorized into permissive licenses such as MIT and Apache, which have minimal restrictions, and copyleft licenses such as GPL and LGPL, which require any derivative work to be distributed under the same open source terms. Freeware licenses allow users to use software for free, but like proprietary software, the source code is not provided, and modifications are not allowed.

Each license...

The impact of software licenses on the DevSecOps pipeline

DevSecOps, a practice that integrates security within the DevOps process, necessitates a comprehensive understanding and management of software licenses to ensure both legal compliance and security. By weaving license management seamlessly into the DevSecOps pipeline, organizations can ensure a streamlined approach to achieving both security and legal compliance.

This fusion aids in proactively identifying and mitigating risks, ensuring a robust, secure, and legally compliant software delivery life cycle (SDLC). Incorporating license management into the DevSecOps pipeline can significantly bolster security while ensuring adherence to legal requirements. Here’s how it unfolds:

• Automatic license detection

  Tools such as FOSSA, Snyk, WhiteSource, and Black Duck can be integrated within the CI/CD pipeline to automatically detect and track the licenses of software components and dependencies to check for vulnerabilities...

How to perform license reviews

License reviews are essential to ensure that the use, modification, and distribution of software and its dependencies comply with specified licensing agreements and do not pose legal or security risks to the organization. License reviews are an ongoing process and should be integrated as a fundamental practice within the DevSecOps pipeline to ensure legal compliance and security in software development and deployment.

This section will provide a structured approach to conducting license reviews.

Tools and techniques

• Automated tools such as FOSSA, Black Duck, or WhiteSource (Mend.io now) can scan code bases and identify the licenses of software components and dependencies. These tools can provide a comprehensive view of the licensing landscape, help track license compliance, and flag potential issues.
• Automating the process can significantly expedite the review, ensuring continuous compliance monitoring throughout the development life...

Fine-tuning policies associated with licenses

Crafting well-defined license policies and fine-tuning them so that they align with organizational goals and legal and security standards is crucial in managing software licenses effectively. By fine-tuning license policies and establishing clear processes for managing exceptions, organizations can ensure a balanced approach to license management that aligns with legal requirements, security standards, and operational needs.

This section breaks down how to fine-tune license policies.

Establishing an organizational standard

• Create a clear list of approved licenses that are permissible for use within the organization. This list should be based on thorough legal and security reviews.
• Equally important is to have a list of forbidden licenses that pose potential legal risks or have security implications that are not acceptable to the organization.
• These guidelines should be easily accessible to all developers and should...

Case studies

There are many case studies of organizations receiving legal penalties for running into issues because of license compliance. In this section, we’ll look at some examples of such case studies.

Case study 1 – the Redis licensing change

Redis decided to move from GNU’s Affero General Public License (AGPL) to a new license named “Commons Clause,” which entailed additional restrictions, primarily to counter cloud providers who were profiting from Redis without contributing back.

This licensing change sparked a debate within the community, with some members arguing that the new licensing terms were against the open source ethos. Furthermore, there were concerns about the potential introduction of security vulnerabilities, especially within third-party Redis modules due to the licensing shift, which could lead to lesser community engagement in vetting and improving the code.

Case study 2 – Elastic versus AWS licensing drama...

Summary

As we conclude this chapter on license compliance, code coverage, and baseline policies within the context of software security and DevSecOps, we’ve navigated through the intricacies of software licensing and its critical role in maintaining legal and security standards across the development and deployment life cycle.

We began by defining software licenses and emphasizing their importance in the realm of software security, setting the stage for understanding the various types of licenses – ranging from permissive and copyleft to proprietary – and their unique implications on software use and distribution.

When looking at the DevSecOps pipeline, we examined the impact of software licenses, highlighting the necessity of automated license detection and the benefits it brings to security and compliance. Tools such as FOSSA and Black Duck emerged as crucial in identifying and tracking licenses, while collaborative efforts among legal, security, and development...